Safety brake for cars, etc.



July 24, 1923. $1,462,741

5. A. CROW SAFETY BRAKE FOR CARS, ETC

Filed Oct. 10, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l Juky 24, 1923.

S. A. CROW ETC SAFETY BRAKE FOR CARS Filed Oct. 10 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gnuenhn July 24, W23.

S. A. CROW SAFETY BRAKE FOR CARS, ETC

Filed Oct. 10 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 SHELTON A. osow, or eLoMAlwR, KENTUCKY.

/ SAFETY BRAKE FOR CARS, ETC.

Application filed October 10, 1922. Serial No. 593,602.

To all whom it may concern Be itv known that SI-IELTON A. Grow, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Glomawr, in the county of Perry and State of Kentucky, has invented certain new and useful Improvementsin-Safety Brakes for Cars, Etc, ofwhich the. following is a the draftor elevating cable is broken or] becomes slack for any reason, will operate to, set abrake which will initially retard the movement of the car and quickly bring it to a stop before said. car has descended any appreciable distance. I

The: particular feature of my invention, thru the combination and arrangement of which the breakingaction is accomplished reside in the novehyet simple construction of the brake-plate, the brake lever, the brake- "shoe and its relative mounting, thru which the :maximum leverage is obtained, the means whereby it is normally held in inoperative position and the automatic spring. device for operating the lever to set the brake device upon slack or break of the -Z draft cable.

The numerous advantages incident to the construction hereinafter described and the simplicity of the elements thereof will be tionis-associatedi .lustr'atei of Figure2; Figure 4 1s a transverse vertical sectional view on the lme 44 of Figure 3;

apparent, especially to those familiar with the operation of cars with which my inven-- lnthe accompanying drawings which ilpreferred embodimentsof my in- Wentiony r 1 Figure 1 is aside elevation of'a car 'on which my device is moun'ted'and showing the brakemechanismln released position;

Figure'2 is a horizontal sectional view thruthe car on'the line 9r2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical section on the line Figure 5 is a plan view of a car to which wisattached a sli htly modified form of brake mechanism, an

" .Fig'ureb is a front view of the car on the line 6-- 6iof'Figure 5. Y Y

which is brake shoe 30 which when the arm or lever 'is associated being indicated at 5 and the wheels therefor at 6. Attached to the for-' ward end of the car, by means of an eye 8,

is the draft cable 9, connected at its other end to the Windlass, (not shown) but which is common practice.

Mounted upon a rectangular bed frame 10" by transverse beams 11 secured upon the main body of the car and at each end thereof, is a frame super-structure 12 having supported in its lower portion, a longitudinal beam 14 toward the rear end attached an eye 15.

Toward the forward end of the car, is ar ranged a pair of transverse, preferably metal plates 16, secured at their ends to the top faces of theside bodybeams of'the car, said plates supporting in turn, a metal brake plate 20 extending centrally and longitudinally of the car and secured to said transverse plates by bolts or rivets. Mounted upon the longitudinal metal plate 20, are a pair ofspaced longitudinal angle-irons 22, the horizontal flanges of which, with the bolts or rivets '23 constitute the attaching means, while the vertical'flanges 24 constitute the supporting means for an upwardly and rea'rwardly extending lever or arm 25,

pin 26. The lower end of the lever or arm 25 is provided with a rearwardly and clownwardly disposed integral extension 28" to pivotally connected by a pin 29, a

of the vertical flanges on a transverse pivot 25 is urged rearwardly-by atension coiled spring 32, secured respectively at its ends to the eye 15 and to an eye 33 upon the upper end of the said lever. when the lifting cable is broken as will be further mentioned,

: engages a fixed'brake rod orcable 34, and

pressure against the relatively movable plate 20 to retard and stop the descent of the car. i v j The shoe 30 is normally maintained in elevated position and out of engagement with the brake rod or cable 34 thru the medium of a rope or wire 35 attached respectively at its ends to the upper end of the armor lever 25, and to the eye of a clamp 36 fixed to the draft cable 9 inadvance of the point of attachment of the latter to the can said of which 'is rope,35 being guided over a pulley or sheave 38 onthe frame superstructure. A tension wire 39 is also provided and is attached respectively at its ends to the clamp 36, and

5 to the lower front end of the car body as When the car is being drawn up the inclined track, or is in fact desending under its weight or that of a load, the draft cable -9 willbe maintained taut and the lever, as shown by Figures 1 and 3, supporting the shoe 30 out of engagement with the brake cable 34. If then, the draft cable 9 should :break, the latter will become slack, and un- -.der tension of the spring 32 the lever r -arm 25 will be permitted to be rocked on :its fulcrum and-the shoe 30 brought forcibly into contact with (the brake cable 34 and the car consequently brought to a stop.

In Figures and 6, I have shown an al- :ternative form of my apparatus, the car may 42 being in general substantially the same .as that in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the present embodiment, in lieu of a single .brake-c'a'bla lemploy a pair'of-lateral cables or rods 43 fixed at their ends in a suitable manner against longitudinal movement.

Attached to the forward ends of the car ibOdy upon each side thereof, is an angular "metal plate M'having attaching flanges 45 and a brakerope engaging fiange 46, which llatter extends forwardly of the car.

Perpendicularto the plane of the flange i46and inwardly directed, are a pair of attached spaced flange plates 48 between the for-ward'ends of which is pivoted at 50 a forwardly and laterally directed lever or arm '51 having a rea'rwardly disposed in tegral extensio'n'52 to which is pivoted a brake shoe 53 identical :in construction with the shoe-shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. It is, of course, understood .that two of these 5 arms are employed and that eachcarries a brake :shoeupon each side of the car and to pro- 'vid'e for simultaneous operation, said arms or ilevers are crossed at substantially intermediate their length, each of. said arms-havring attached at its outer end,'a' coiledtension springfi l which latter is-secu'red at its op- :posite' endto an eye 55 fixed to the flange :plates48.

flEach of these levers is also connected thru arope-56 with'a clar'np59 fixed on the draft cable 60, and the arrangement is such that when the draftcable is tensioned under load, rthe levers 'willbe rocked to cause the brake shoes to be released from gripping engage- .ment ,with *the fixed brakecables 43, but should ,thedraft cable be bI'0l 8I1,tl1B slack -will ipermit the springs 54,-to'rock the arms aorz'levers to cause the-shoes to gripthebrake ,cable to the {brake plate 46 and stop the dQSCeIlt .of .the 1 car.

,From the.fore going description of the con- ;structiongof mytdevice, it will-be S6811 that I have provided a simple, inexpensive, and

efficient means for carrying out the objects of the invention, and While I have part1cu- ,larly describedtheelements best adapted to perform the functions set forth, it is ob vious that various changes in form, proportion, and in the minor details of construction maybe resorted to, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the principles of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as" new and desire to protectiby Letters Patent is:

1. In a brake mechanism for cars, in combination with the carbody,a draft cable atspring connected with said lever and a part of said car for urging said lever rearwardly, upon the slacking of thedra'ft'cable, to move said brake shoe into engagement with said fixed brake cable.

2. In brake mechanism for cars on an in clined railway, a carbody adapted to travel on said inclined railway, a draft cable attached =at the forw'ardend of said carbody, a fixedbrake cable,"a lever pivotally mounted on said car body,.a.bra ke shoe pivotally mounted on said :lever in :the rear of itsv 'pivoted connection with the car-body, a brake plate rigidly secured to said car body 'beneathsaid'brake shoe and between which "brake shoe and brake platesaid brake cable is adapted to pass, means connected with the upper end of said lever and the draftcable for' normally maintaining said lever in elevated position to raise 'the'brake shoe above the said brake plate and a coiled tension spring connectedcwith the upper end of said leverand the rear portion of said car body and adapted to move the said lever rearwardly on its pivot when the draft cable becomesslack, and rock thesaid brake-shoe into contact with said brake cable to clamp I it between the opposed faces of said 7 brake- (plate and brake-shoe.

3. In-a car brake, a-car,ia draftcableat- 'tach'ed to .saidIca-r, at'its forward end, a

brake "lever, a fixed centrally disposed 'brake Y plate onsaid car, a pair-of:spacedglongitudinal, vertical flanges secured'to said plate,

said brake "lever being pivoted to, :and between said. vertical flanges :at :their upper forward ends,-a pivoted brake shoe pivotally mounted on a rearward extension of said brake lever adjacent its pivot, "a fixed brake cable 1 p'assing longitudinally thru said" car and disposed between said wfixed brake plate and said brake shoe, a rope connected at one end with the upper end of said brake lever and fixed at its other end to said draft cable in advance of said car and adapted to maintain said lever in elevated position to lift said brake shoe, and a tension spring connected respectively at its ends With the upper end of said lever and With a fixed part of the rear of said car, and adapted to urge said lever rearvvardly upon a slack in the 10 draft cable, and whereby said brake shoe is permitted to grip said fixed brake cable to said fixed brake plate on said car.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

SHELTON A. CROW. 

